Vermont’s unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent in October, the state Department of Labor reported Friday.
That’s the same seasonally adjusted number reported in September, the first month the state’s unemployment rate increased in a year. The national unemployment rate for October was 5.0 percent, the department said in a news release.
The reported also noted that the number of employed Vermonters declined by 2,050 in October.
“At this point, we are examining whether this month’s more significant decline in the labor force is an anomaly or underscores a more systemic trend,” Commissioner Annie Noonan said in the new release. “Our approach to a reduced labor force has to be multi-faceted, including greater outreach to students and workers here in Vermont, as well as regionally and nationally, and to significantly increase funding for programs that will train – or retrain – Vermonters for the jobs that match the employers’ openings.”
Regional unemployment levels ranged from 2.5 percent in the Burlington area to to 4.9 percent in Derby, the report said.
